There was a sharp knock at the front door.
Seated in a weathered rocking chair, a packed duffle bag on his side sat Ross. He had an air of unease and fear, but his true thoughts were impenetrable.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Another series of knocks echoed through the house.
"No! It can't be! It's too soon." He whispered.
Ross' eyes remained fixed on his bedroom door, filled with hopeless despair. His hands clenched tightly around the drawstrings of his bag as he made no attempt to rise from his seat to confront the unexpected visitors.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
The house trembled under the onslaught of thunderous knocks.
Ross stayed seated in his chair. His eyes watery and bloodshot, from his continued stare.
His mind twisted and twirled with thoughts and ideas, but none of them seemed to move Ross in any way.
The room around him melted and distorted due to the stress, he sat trapped, imprisoned by his own illusions.
The burden of destiny lay on Ross' shoulders, but still he refused to address it.
From the commotion, Ged arose from his slumber. Emerging from his bedroom, he hastily dressed and headed to the front door to confront the late-night visitors.
Opening the front door was two black and red uniformed men.
Each wore dark tinted sunglasses and masks that hid their faces. Atop their head were red baseball caps with white lettering that said, "Ono."
The leader of the pair was a thin man whose uniform appeared oversized for his slender frame.
"I'm looking for the owner of this farm" the thin man announced.
Ged, swayed by the authoritative aura of the two men, replied, "I'll go see if he is awake."
He ascended the stairs leading to Ross's room and knocked on his bedroom door.
"Ross, two people are asking for you at the door." Ged spoke frankly.
Ross, hearing Ged's words, closed his eyes, regaining some clarity to his thoughts. He spoke to Ged through the door, "Tell them I'm coming down soon."
Ged, upon hearing Ross' words, returned downstairs to speak with the two important looking people at the doorway.
"He said he'll be down soon." Ged announced.
This time the partner was the one to speak up. He was a robust figure with a filled out frame, his one distinguishing quality was his lone arm. But that one arm was so large that it dwarfed his large body.
"No need to fear us, kid. We are just here to help with your move." The one-armed man spoke, softly.
"Why are we moving?" Ged questioned.
The two officers gave each other confused looks.
"Never mind that." The thin man finally answered. "The owner should be able to clear up any confusion."
After a moment's time Ross finally left his room and had made it to the top of the wooden stairwell. Now with a closer look at the two strange visitors, Ross stood frozen.
"Ono, officers." He mumbled.
"You must be the owner of this farm," the thin man spoke to the frozen Ross.
In a panic, Ross leapt over the handrail of the wooden staircase.
He raised his hands high, forming them into a hammer-like shape, and then brought them down, striking one of the supporting pillars of the staircase. Afterward, he delivered a mighty kick that sent the stairs crashing toward the Ono officers.
Capitalizing on this distraction, Ross then sprinted toward the home's rear exit.
The two officers jumped into action in response to the sudden turn of events.
The one-armed man reacted first, using his towering arm he broke the momentum of the staircase. Then flexing the muscles in his arm, the shattered staircase changed direction now flying down the hallway towards a nimble Ross.
But, Ross did not stop, ignoring the rubble he continued down the hallway away from the two officers.
In response the thin man finally took action flexing his body into a strange pose. A strange aura momentarily appeared around the thin man.
A terrifying, agonized scream now echoed from down the hallway.
Ged stood dumbfounded, unable to fully grasp the situation at hand he turned to the two officers to ask, "What's going on?"
"This farm has been assigned to a new tenant, and we are tasked with relocating you to your new home." The thin man spoke matter-of-factly.
The loud noise of the exchange between Ross and the officers also brought Brit out of her bedroom. With her bedroom placed right next to the rear exit, she opened up her bedroom door.
Ross was lying on the floor, his legs twisted at unnatural angles. Gruesome burn marks were spread over his entire body. Brit, seeing the gruesome sight, quickly retreating back into the safety of her bedroom.
"He'll be fine. Don't you try your luck, running away as well." The thin man spoke with audacious assurance.
"We'll get him to a doctor."
The thin man looked toward the one-armed man, who had been standing idly by, and in response, he flexed into another strange pose.
A strange air permeated around the one-armed man.
Ross's screams ceased and he was now encased within a strange, smoky white capsule.
With a series of more complex flexing poses from the one-armed man, the capsule slowly rose from the floor. Then, with a final directive flex, it hurtled through the air flying out the front door at a remarkable speed.
Brit and Ged stood in awe of the two officers' bizarre performance.
"Get ready and pack your belongings." The thin man spoke to the two children. "We are leaving tonight."
Still in shock from the night's events, Ged and Brit retreated simultaneously into their bedrooms, slamming their doors shut.
With the children now gone, the thin man inquired to his partner, "hey Dale, where did you put that farmer?"
"I put him on the dragon," the one-armed man replied.
"Damn it!" The thin man cursed.
"You know the dragon is a rental, right? Don't put that farmer's corpse anywhere near it, I don't want him bleeding on the thing."
Dale, ignoring the thin man's questions, spoke frankly, "I'm concerned about you, Carl. The flex you used against that farmer was rather extreme."
"I didn't think he would be so weak." Carl frowned. "I thought you had to be strong to get your own farmland."
Dale gave a sour look, replying, "didn't you read the brief the boss sent? The farmer is silver ranked."
Carl clicked his tongue. "Only a damn silver rank would be dumb enough to try and run away. These damn idiots think getting out of bronze is an actual accomplishment." Carl spoke in a mocking tone.
Dale sighed. "It doesn't really matter." He gave a final look around the destroyed farmhouse, before walking out the front door.
Deep in thought, Dale stood outside looking towards the fields of moonlit vegetables.
"At least that girl was kinda hot." Carl broke the silence.
Dale gave Carl a disturbed glance, shaking his head.
"Don't act like you're some saint," Carl retorted.
Ignoring Carl's comment, Dale flexed into a pose, and an eagle-like creature emerged from within his bicep.
"If I'm to take care of the farmer, you at least have to take care of the kids." Dale announced, jumping on the back of his eagle.
With ruffling of feathers the eagle sped off moving quickly towards the fields of broccoli where the dragon was situated to pick up the smoky capsule Ross was contained within.
A short while later Ged emerged from his bedroom with a bag filled with clothes slung over his shoulder.
"Where are we going?" Ged asked as he approached the stationary Carl.
Fighting hard to remember where he was supposed to take the children, Carl massaged his temple. "Shark Village. I think... First, though, we are going to Toto-ka to get you registered."
Brit emerged from her room with a packed bag, glancing over at Carl, she was still stricken with a feeling of dread.
"Where is Ross?" Brit questioned.
"Don't worry, the farmer is fine. He's on his way to get some treatment." Carl spoke dismissively.
"Now that I have both of you, let's not waste any more time," he finished with authority.
Brit didn't move a step, the haunting image of Ross still etched into her mind.
"I would advise you to think carefully about the actions you take next." Carl spoke coldly.
Brit gave into the provocation, hesitantly joining the two at the doorway.
Leaving through the front entrance the three made their way toward the broccoli fields, where a black dragon awaited.
The dragon was a large creature. With a long serpentine body covered in scales as black as shadows with two curved horns atop its head. It had both its eyes closed asleep, unphased by the humans which approached it.
On its back waited a carriage designed much like a modern car, complete with windows and doors.
"Get on," Carl instructed, climbing up onto the dragon's tail.
Still with some reservation the two children followed climbing the back of the dragon, opening the doors to the back seats of the car-like carriage..
Rolling down the window, Carl yelled out to the black dragon, "Bring us to the Toto-ka registration office."
The dragon didn't respond, it continued to lay with its eyes closed ignoring Carl's commands.
Carl grumbled in anger, opening up the door of the carriage he approached the head of the dragon.
"Wake up! We got things to do." He commanded.
The dragon stirred from its slumber letting out an annoyed roar.
"Screw off." Carl retorted, stomping his feet with displeasure.
The dragon in response elevated itself off of the ground causing the space around it to distort, as Carl scurried off into the driver's seat of the carriage.
The dragon elevated several kilometers above ground, flying quickly en route to the Toto-ka registration facility.